


Meg Manning's Baby

by Starburned



Category: Psych, Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Private Investigators
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 06:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1541315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starburned/pseuds/Starburned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meg's desire for her daughter's freedom seems lost until two of California's best intervene. The young mother's dying wish just might be fulfilled with a little help from her friend… and a certain psychic detective. Veronica Mars/Psych crossover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meg Manning's Baby

**Part I**

Even the smallest actions came with consequences. If you offer a mouse a cookie, he'd eat you out of house and home. If you ever dare award a pig a pancake, well you'd better have syrup in stock. And if you gave Burton Guster a newspaper, you had best free up your afternoon.

Most people just skimmed through the paper, searching for articles that pertained to them, but Gus was different. Not only did the pharmaceutical rep read the newsprint cover to cover, he also felt the need to comment on everything he read.

Shawn always did his best to avoid his friend on, "News Day," but now that he had a stable job, that was nearly impossible.

He'd groaned when he'd spotted Gus walk into the Psych office that morning, newspaper in hand. It was way too early for intellectual discussion.

"Dude, how did you get here before me?" Gus demanded.

Shawn grinned, thankful for the chance to gloat. He might as well get some bragging in before he was inevitably upstaged by his co-worker's frightening knowledge of current events. "Psychic abilities," he teased, placing his fingertips on the sides of his head.

"That doesn't even make sense," Gus pointed out. "Seriously though, isn't waking up on time against your religion or something?"

Shawn rolled his eyes. "I came in early. We have an important client coming in today," he replied. "And for your information, Shawnism isn't against anything besides handsome Australian copycats."

"No really," Gus probed. As seriously as Shawn took his cases, he wouldn't pass up an extra hour of sleep just for a consultation appointment.

"Fine," Shawn conceded, "I spent the night at Juliet's, so I had her drop me off on her way to the station."

That was all? Gus couldn't believe that that was something Shawn would be reluctant to admit. He was already well aware that his two friends were in the, "he gets a toothbrush, she gets a drawer," stage in their relationship. "You woke up that early just to get a ride? Couldn't you have taken your bike?"

"I could, but… I just… I showed up late to a movie date last week, and-" Shawn paused, looking slightly embarrassed, a rare emotion for someone normally so shameless. "I wanted to prove to her that I could be… punctual."

"Punctual?" Gus repeated, trying his very best not to burst out laughing.

"Yeah, uh…" Shawn cleared his throat. "So," he began, motioning to Gus' newspaper. "Anything interesting in the paper today?"

Gus recognized Shawn's lame attempt to change the subject, but his weakness for the scandal sheet stopped him from saying anything. "Actually, yes. You remember that actor in that action movie we used to like as kids, The Long Haul?"

"Aaron Echolls?" Shawn remembered. "Yeah. Why? Is he doing another movie?"

"Not unless they shoot films in prison," Gus answered grimly. He unfolded the paper, presenting the article to Shawn. "He was arrested for the murder of son's girlfriend."

Shawn blinked, unsure of how to respond. It was always tough to learn that your idol wasn't perfect, and overwhelming to discover they were a killer. "He… what? ... Why?"

"To protect his reputation, of all things," Gus said sadly. "Didn't seem to do much good. In fact, there are rumors that tapes of them together were stolen from the Neptune police station. There's been bidding wars going all over the internet."

Shawn shook his head in disgust. "After all that's happened to that family," he practically fumed. "Money's wasted on the rich."

"That's what I keep saying."

 

* * *

 

**Part II**

I'd failed the baby doll project. I'd found out on Friday when I got my final grade for health. Turns out my trick of stuffing a cloth in junior's mouth whenever it cried back fired. I'd seen the look Ms. Hauser had given me after I'd turned in the doll; the, "I pray to god you'll never really be a parent," look.

Whoops, too late.

For the past few days I had been Veronica Mars- formula mixing, diaper changing, baby burping guardian extraordinaire. Okay, so that had mostly been Duncan, but I was rocking at lullabies.

What I wasn't really rocking the no sleep thing. Don't get me wrong, Lilly was pretty easy as far babies go. It was more the issue of her guardianship that kept me up at night. As her father, Duncan had been awarded custody of the baby, but the Mannings were doing everything in their power to take her away from him. It seemed as all of Neptune's legal system had their eyes on my boyfriend, and with his condition it was only a matter of time before he lost his daughter.

My only chance of stopping this lay in incriminating Meg's parents. I had to make a severely epileptic, and consequentially bipolar teenage boy seem like a better candidate for guardianship than the baby's charitable, "god fearin'," grandparents.

My inability to do so alone was what landed me where I was now- one hundred miles from home, and way out of my comfort zone. I'd never trusted anyone who called them a psychic, especially after my incident on live television. Adding 'private detective' to the title only seemed to insult the profession. Even with my personal reservations, I didn't hesitate stepping into small white "Psych" building. Duncan, Lilly, and Meg mattered much more than any old grudges I might harbor.

"Money's wasted on the rich," I heard as I stepped through the door.

I couldn't help but comment. "That's what I keep saying." I smiled politely at the two men before extending my hand to who looked to be the boss. "I'm Veronica," I introduced, "I have an eight o'clock appointment with Mr. Spencer."

The bald man smiled back, but it was the other one that answered. "Shawn Spencer, psychic detective." He smiled at me too, but more goofily, and motioned for me to sit in a nearby chair. "You're from Neptune, right?" He didn't wait for me to respond- I suppose he was trying to prove he was psychic or something, but I wasn't convinced. I did know that the man had a way of knowing things others didn't, and that was all I needed. "What brings you all the way out here?"

I opened my mouth to speak, knowing what I would have to say, but aware how foreign the words would feel on my tongue. "I need your help."

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in 2011, when Psych was between seasons 5 and 6. I was 2/3 of the way through season 2 of Veronica Mars. I love the show (and movie), but didn't like how the Meg's baby arch played out. I was also 15 at the time I wrote this, so it's not great (not that I write all that well now), but I was thinking about picking up the story again.


End file.
